charlieduke

Apollo 16 crew : John W. Young Thomas K. Mattingly II Charles M. Duke Jr.

Another picture taken during this session is found at: archive.org/download/GPN-2006-000017/GPN-2006-000017.jpg

"The identity of the object blocking the face of Charlie Duke (center) is unknown." No longer ... he is holding a "Combination Survival-Light Assembly". I've seen one on display at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum on the Washington Mall in Washington D.C., and another at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Charlie has the integral emergency signaling mirror deployed here, and is holding the corner of that signal mirror in his right hand. From [1], p. 29: "The combination survival-light assembly meets the requirement to provide the crewmen with adequate survival components that would provide the most effective means of survival and yet have a minimum weight and volume. The assembly is a hand-held unit that is primarily used for visual signaling, which is accomplished by means of a strobe light, a flashlight, or a signal mirror. Additionally, the unit contains a siren whistle, a compass, fire starters, cotton balls, halogen tablets, a water receptacle, knife blades, needles, nylon cord, and fishhooks. The combination survival light was developed for use in the Gemini Program. It satisfies the Apollo postlanding requirements. This item, intended for use during an emergency postlanding situation, has not been required during any mission. However, postflight testing demonstrated that the units remain functional." [1] Apollo experience report: Crew provisions and equipment subsystem, NASA-TN-D-6737 ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19720013196 p. 28 - Figure 16 shows the survival-light assembly under "Survival lights"